York Acorn 32 vs 6 Heworth ARLFC. NCL Premier Division, round 1. Saturday 7.3.26.

Heworth, opened their campaign in the Premier League  of the newly restructured RFL National Community Rugby League Competition with a 32-6 defeat at the hands of fierce local rivals York Acorn in a tough uncompromising and often feisty encounter in front of a big crowd at Thanet Road.

It was a physical start to the game with both sets of forwards testing each other out determined to assert their authority and it was the hosts who  were first on the scoreboard after nine minutes with a try by loose forward Eddie Prescott converted by stand off Matt Chilton. Heworth though suffered a huge setback after having a player dismissed for foul play in the tackle. The Villagers though were undeterred and levelled six minutes later when an excellent pass from scrum half Finlay Tait sent second rower Liam Richmond charging through a gap to score and hooker Jack Sadler added the extras to make it 6-6. Acorn though responded with a strong period of pressure on the visitors line but were met with some resolute defending which kept them at bay. Inevitably something had to give and on 27 minutes the home side took advantage of the extra man to create space for scrum half Semisi Naqelevuki to cross to the left of the posts and Chilton tagged on the two pointer to put them six points ahead. Seven minutes later they increased their advantage when substitute forward Davey Burns muscled his way over from close range for another Chilton goaled effort. It got even better for the hosts just three minutes before the break after centre Ryan Gallacher crossed wide out on the left edge for an unconverted score to put them 22-6 ahead at half time. 

The Black and Whites, despite the deficit, were not in the mood to lie down and showed great character in the opening period of the second half to prevent the hosts from penetrating their obdurate defence. On 50 minutes the match took another turn when following a fracas Acorn were down to twelve men after losing a player to a red card  for his part in the melee. Three minutes later though Chilton nudged them two points further ahead with a penalty goal and then immediately repeated the dose with a kick from the halfway line when Heworth were frustratingly sanctioned for offside at the re-start. The Villagers were still not done and ramped up the pressure but were met by an equally resilient home defence which proved impenetrable.  Just past the hour mark they were again a man down due to a yellow card and the Blue and Golds capitalised with just ten minutes remaining when Naqelevuki went in for his second try and Chilton's sixth conversion rounded off a deserved victory.   

 Jack Sadler took the man of the match award for Heworth.

Next Saturday Castleford outfit Lock Lane are the visitors to Elmpark Way. Kick off 2.30p.m.   

Match report- Dave Ward